Douglas Allen Reviews 

Ann Marie, Stuart And Andy have made the process of buying a house so simple and streamline it’s been an absolute pleasure working with all three. They are all very attentive and make it a conscious effort to make the customer feel comfortable and confident about their decisions at all times. Thank you once again for all your help.

We went to view a house with Douglas Allen (Chadwell Heath branch) in December 2023 before the Christmas holidays. The house was advertised with 3 other agents but I chose Douglas Allen because a while back, a young chap by the name of Bilal Arbi who works for Douglas Allen was really helpful in supporting me with an offer I had made on a property back in September, but I wasn’t successful in securing the property. To cut a long story short, for the house I went to view in December 2023, Douglas Allen only accepted my offer after doing something called an “offer qualification”, a disguise of where they force you to have a meeting with their in house mortgage advisor, to underhandedly force you to take out a mortgage with them. This is unethical and immoral- I’ve dealt with other estate agents before and they’ve never operated in such a way. Nevertheless I sat through this meeting and then eventually after a few days the seller accepted my offer but I had to increase it by £7000. I made the biggest mistake doing this. After accepting my offer, the seller still kept the house on the market with other agents because he was hoping to secure higher offers than mine. The property has tenants who are council tenants of 10 years and the seller is struggling to remove them. Despite knowing this I went ahead with good intentions to buy this house, giving Douglas Allen the benefit of the doubt that they are doing everything they can to push the seller to remove the house off the market and remove the tenants. I did my mortgage application and surveyors were sent to survey the property. After my mortgage went through, 2 days later I find out from Tanya Keene, their Sales Progressor, that the seller had issued a Section 21 to the tenants but they refused to move. She then went on to say the seller would need to get a court eviction order to forcibly remove the tenants which could take up to 6-9 months, all in the while upholding the notion that the seller had no idea that his tenants were council tenants! I couldn’t believe the utter nonsense she was spouting- Tanya claimed she had no idea about what the seller was up to and in the telephone conversation I had with her, she was taking the seller’s side and making excuses for him that he’s naive and innocent in all of this. I am very disappointed that they allowed a surveyor to survey the house, which I paid a sum of over £500 for the surveyor cost the property, knowing full well that the sale of this house will not complete any time soon. I had already instructed solicitors and paid an £800 deposit for them to start their checks, but the seller was doing nothing from his side to make this sale happen. This is all down to Douglas Allen’s carelessness- they should’ve done more to understand this seller’s motives. As a result, I lost a lot of money and so much of my time was wasted on this one property which I had set my heart on. Also, one of their Sales Negotiators, Samuel Stephens, as nice as he was, he seemed very ill informed on the entire process of processing offers. He had initially asked me to send over my payslips, P60, 3 months bank statements and much more for simply making an offer on a house? This was then looked into by the mortgage advisor who herself admitted Samuel was not supposed to ask for this much information and that the offers are supposed to be emailed to someone more senior than him, and that he will be told to delete the sensitive files I sent over to his email. After I had withdrawn my offer for this property, they put the house back on the market, knowing full well there are sitting tenants in the property who will not be vacating the property anytime soon. This shows they have no reservations in deceiving people. This is a very poor reflection of Douglas Allen and I would advise anyone to steer well clear of them!

Great day with Ian White on the phone sorting our sale, very helpful loads of communication and guidance. A great result all parties happy.

Jodie and Joanna from the Basildon branch have been very flexible and gone the extra mile to get my property rented out as quickly as possible under difficult circumstances. I recommend using them if you are a landlord looking to rent out properties quickly and professionally

Luke from the Basildon Branch has been absolutely amazing and helpful during our search for our home. He would email us homes to view, arrange viewings and keep in contact to check if we have found or see anything we like. Thank you for your help and support during this time.

The team is great and kind. Loved the way they helped me through out my first rental home @Jordie, Chris and the rest of the crew 👍 thankyou guys....

Pretended to submit my offer but wasted my time.
Were forcing me to use their broker. They said they couldn’t recommend my offer unless I used their broker which is illegal. I refused and they said they would favor someone above me.
Did not submit my offer to the vendor- also illegal, forced me to find some bespoke letter which doesn’t exist and sent me on a goose chase for 3 hours all while they had agreed another offer.
Were rude - Stuart had zero knowledge of second time buyers but made up some facts that I need to put my other flat on buy to let without another place to live.
Overall illegal and rude I have recorded phone calls of my experience

I asked for a valuation of my ground floor flat that benefits from its own private garden and allocated car parking space. Greg at Basildon offered a “desk top” valuation. This is not only unprofessional and lazy but something anyone can do.

That would not be so bad if he actually compared my property to something equal. However, he chose to compare it to a first floor, which needless to say does not have a garden and another one that’s for sale with a tenant in situ and will therefore be a lot cheaper.

I should have known really since I have worked with these people and know they do not consider the customer journey or factual information as a priority. But maybe Greg will realise next time, not only will my “beneath him” 1 bed flat be for sale soon, so will my parents 2 x 3 bedroom houses. So he hasn’t just lost a minuscule commission from me, but a far greater one from my parents too. Nice work!

As a former employee, this organisation is unprofessional and behave like sharks. They’ll push you to use their mortgage advisors and conveyancers who are utterly shocking. I used the conveyancers myself and nearly lost my property over £50 ground rent they insisted on arguing about!

You’ve been warned!

We used Douglas Allen in conjunction with their affiliated On Line auction company. The service was seemless, with the local DA Woodford Green guys happy to provide the viewing service and the local marketing. I also work in the financial service sector and having talked to a couple of alternatives chose DA having met Ray as I felt I was getting impartial and objective advice with none of the BS that is occasionally associated with estate agents. I would definately recommend them and use them again.

Applying for a mortgage isn't an easy process! Andrew Seymour of Woodford Green branch has not only made it easy but also enjoyable through his profeesional & friendly approach! Thank you Andrew!

Stewart was very supportive whenever I came. I rate your service 5stars. Wish you all the best.

My experience with Ann-Marie has been extremely enjoyable and productive. She has been extremely professional, warm, knowledgeable and friendly. It has been a pleasure to view properties with her as well as experience her focus, enthusiasm and confidence in trying to sell my house. I cannot recommend Ann-Marie highly enough.

Ian White at Douglas Allen in Epping is fabulous. Really helpful and always goes the extra mile. Can’t recommend highly enough.

Ian and the team at Douglas Allen, Epping have been extremely helpful and professional. We have had more viewing in the last week then our last agent had in three months, would highly recommend.

I would highly recommend Ray Phipps at Douglas Allen, Wanstead to sell your home.

I was initially on the market with Petty Son & Prestwich for 6-months. They were unable to find a buyer.

Ray Phipps from Douglas Allen, Wanstead knocked on my door to introduce himself and asked if he could help, as he was surprised that we still hadn’t sold. We arranged a further meeting where he explained what he would do differently. He was sincere and confident that he could help us find the right buyer so we signed up with him.

True to his word, we had an instant up lift of viewings, a few offers, and we agreed a sale.

Ray also helped me through the maze of legal paperwork, and together with his recommend solicitor Holly, they got my sale to completion quickly.

Ray’s service was over and above. I can’t recommend him highly enough. I wish I had instructed him from the start.

Ian & Luke at the Epping branch were with us every step of the way.
Made our dream possible with the most impeccable customer service. Thank you!

My experience with Douglas Allen was good overall. However, there was some lack of communication at times and I had to chase for information. The agents that I specifically dealt with were Chelsea from the Hornchurch branch who saw the sale through to completion, and Michelle and Greg from the Basildon office who were very helpful when the property went on the market. Thank you all for your help and guidance throughout.

The all process was perfect, from the valuation, communication, Ray (Wanstead) was always there for us, the first time the sale fell through and Ray quickly reacted, after a few days our house was sold and we are now in our new home. I strongly recommend Douglas Allen and a big thank you to Ray and also Emma who is behind the scene

Hi we have been so far happy with the service in Chadwell heath branch. All staff have been really helpful. Bilal from day one his customer service been excellent . keeping us update and helping us view houses. He Has been very helpful and understanding. We actually came to Chadwell heath branch because of Bilal. His customer service was very good.We have sold our property through Douglas and Allen in Chadwell heath branch.we are now finding our property now.

Very pleased with the level of service they provided us with. Caroline and Alex were extremely helpful.